The star of Ferrari's stand at Paris, the new SA APERTA roadster, might have grabbed the headlines, but it was sharing floor space with a car that had far more long-term significance for the Italian firm - the California HELE.

That's High Emotion Low Emission (hands up who wants to be in the room the first time an executive says that in the wrong order), aka Ferrari's response to the challenge of decreasing CO2 while maintaining traditional core values. It's all part of the company's bid to cut tailpipe pollutants by 40 per cent between 2002 and 2014 - and the California sets the ball rolling.

Energy-regenerating brakes and hybrid drivetrains will eventually contribute most of the savings, and it's almost certain that HELE will evolve as Ferrari extends it across the model range during the next couple of years.

For now it relies on a Stop&Start system with intelligent control of fuel pumps and engine fans, plus a revised air-conditioning compressor with an electronic (rather than mechanical) valve. The energy savings lower CO2 - from 299g/km to 270g/km - and improve the 4.3-litre flat-plane crank V8's torque by 18lb ft.

Ferrari has also played with the shift points of its seven-speed paddle-change gearbox, so that in full automatic mode it uses eight per cent fewer revs in urban driving.

Importantly, as far as Ferrari's customers are concerned, the alterations slip by almost entirely unnoticed from the driving seat. Those familiar with the ceremony of a Ferrari firing into life – the pronounced whirr of the starter heralding a violently loud bark as the cylinders awaken - might wince at the prospect of Stop&Start as they edge through urban traffic.

They needn't: the process has been refined so that both volume and duration of start-up are significantly reduced, the latter from 700 milliseconds to just 230. That's less time than it takes to move from the brake pedal to the throttle, at which point the engine fires up, so the transition from engine off to forward motion is completely seamless.

Together with the gearbox updates, Stop&Start is said to improve fuel consumption by 15 per cent in dense traffic.

This being the realm of the supercar, there is of course a cost involved – in the California's case the HELE upgrades add £820.15 to the car's £143,870 basic price. It should be noted, too, that the reduction in CO2 isn't enough to drop the California into a cheaper VED band. You can almost hear the collective silence of Ferrari buyers not noticing.

What will get their attention is the rapidity with which the gearbox shifts and the way the cabin fills with a sublime V8 sountrack when you escape the city and head for the hills.

These might be baby steps as far as environmentally friendly motoring is concerned, but one thing is clear: a greener Ferrari is still very much the real deal.